


Again

by Morganology (morganology)



Category: Prey (Video Game 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/F, IlYUshin, Morgan x Mikhalia, Romance, smut in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-09 09:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13478154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganology/pseuds/Morganology
Summary: A few months after their break-up, they can’t stop thinking about each other. The weakness of another employee’s bones allows the two to meet again, after an era of ignorance.





	1. Meeting

The familiar hissing of the hydraulics that opened the door to Morgan Yu’s office whistled in the background. Not looking up from her workstation, Morgan addressed the visitor.

“Alex. Not now, I really think I’m onto something h-“

“Not Alex.” Came the reply. Female, accented, and horribly familiar. Morgan resisted the urge to sigh.

“Chief Ilyushin,” Morgan stood up from her desk. “How may I help you?”

The Chief Engineer of Talos One stood before her, hands intertwined behind her back, her eyes looking everywhere but Morgan’s own. Her body language gave off the impression that she was nervous, for one reason or another, as she shifted her feet slightly. Morgan noted how far back she stood from her desk.

“I ran into Calvino on the way to the Teleconferencing Center, and, well... you know how he struggles getting around the station,”

This was true. Lorenzo Calvino. Brilliant engineer, inventor of the Looking Glass technology that altered so many assets around Talos. Although for all his brilliance, his sour attitude and his age eventually caught up with him. There were rumours circulating about his forgetfulness, too.

“And well, so the poor man wouldn’t faint, I offered to pass on his message to you.”

Morgan blinked. It would have been easier for Calvino to send her an email - hell, it would have been easier for Calvino _to tell_ Mikhalia to send her an email, which made Morgan think that the engineer may be here for another reason.

“He said he’s encountered a problem with restoring the Looking Glass server connecting your office to the main terminal, but he should have it up and running by tomorrow morning.” Mikhalia finished.

Morgan groaned. Calvino had told her the exact same thing yesterday, and with the current research she was doing into mirror neurons, having the looking glass available would be more than ideal. She would have to improvise.

Directing her gaze to her workstation screen, she saw the email Mikhalia sent her regarding their recent breakup under the ‘unread’ folder. Not that she hadn’t read it, of course, it just made her feel better to make it seem like she didn’t care. 

“Mikhalia.”

Morgan saw the engineer jump out of the corner of her eye. The other woman stammered and blinked twice in response.

“Yes, Dr. Yu?”

Doctor Yu. So formal.

“Why are you stood so far away? I have to strain my ears to hear you. As advanced as the neuromod technology is, it doesn’t come with bat-like hearing. Although that would be something to look into.” She grinned.

Mikhalia awkwardly strode closer to Morgan’s desk. The director of research sat down, then gestured for her to take a seat in one of the chairs, which she took reluctantly. 

What now? She only came in here to pass on a message... didn’t she? Truthfully she also took the opportunity to remind Morgan of her existence since their break-up, but that wasn’t the main reason. 

It was hard to meet Morgan’s eyes. That warm hazel she used to be so familiar with was cold, and she didn’t like what she saw. Morgan was unfamiliar now, yet all the memories they shared still pulled her in closer, like a magnet. She didn’t know what to do. She almost couldn’t bear being in her presence.

“I got your email.”

_Oh._

“Which one?” Mikhalia replied, knowing she had cc’d Morgan into multiple emails, yet the only one she had sent directly to the other woman was regarding the... end of their relationship.

“You know the one I’m talking about, Mika.”

She shivered. Mika? Morgan hadn’t called her that in a while. It had been so formal afterward, with a ‘Doctor’ here and a ‘Chief Ilyushin’ there. But Morgan’s voice around her name...

She cleared her throat. Now wasn’t the time.

“Yes. Although you never replied, I assumed you got it. It is true though, I have put it behind me,” a blatant lie, “and I understand our role as professionals on board this station.”

“Mikhalia, I’d like to...”

“And I still appreciate all that you’ve done for me, regarding my... condition and letting me stay here aboard Talos. It really does mean a lot to me.” She rambled on, unable to stop the flow of words leaping from her tongue. 

Morgan leaned back in her chair, folded her arms and closed her eyes. 

Mikhalia knew this. It was Morgan’s way of saying ‘I’ll put up with all your bullshit rambling until you cut to the chase and we get back on track’. She stopped talking.

A brief silence followed. To Mikhalia, it felt like hours.

“I’d like to invite you to dinner.”

Mikhalia’s eyes widened. “What?”

Morgan smiled slightly, brushing a strand of hair from her face. She leaned forward, regaining interest in their conversation.

“Did I surprise you?” The brown eyes glimmered with amusement.

It was hard to speak. “Yes... you did. But I thought-“

Morgan stopped her. “Is that a yes or no?”

“I think... yes?” She was confused. Definitely confused. Dreaming? Possibly. 

The other woman smiled, leaning back in her seat again. “Great, that’s settled. Say, is tonight at 8 in the Yellow Tulip good for you?”

Mikhalia merely nodded. It’s not like she spent her nights doing much anyway, mainly working overtime in order to appease Alex after he found out about her paraplexis. The Yus seemed to like all that ‘ass-licking’ crap. Probably to stroke their massive egos.

“So... I’ll see you then?” 

Morgan was obviously dismissing her. Stumbling to her feet, she nodded and gave a weak smile. In the faint reflection of the window, she could have sworn her face was as red as the colour of Morgan’s uniform.

—————————————————

The door closed behind the engineer. Morgan let out a grin and threw her arms in the air, mouthing a silent cheer.

Mika had accepted her invite. After all those months of awkward contact, those glances across the cafeteria like it was all a stupid high school crush, there had finally been a breakthrough.

It was lucky Mikhalia came along. She had been planning this for days without a solution as to how she could meet her in private.

She swung round in her chair, grinning to herself. It was true, she broke up with Mika because of the neuromod tests. But now, she had been given a second chance. A chance to explain to her exactly what experiments she was putting herself in the middle of and why she broke up with her in the first place. That, and... she did care deeply about her.

Honestly, she was expecting more of a ‘Morgan, stop playing with my emotions’ response from Mikhalia, but none of that mattered now that she reached her goal. Now onto the next part.

“What the hell am I going to wear?”

—————————————————

Mikhalia was getting distracted. Her goal on board Talos was to find any evidence of her missing father, who she was certain hadn’t ever left the station. But Morgan - the elusive, powerful, and gorgeous Morgan - had distracted her once again. Mika knew one date with her ex-girlfriend wouldn’t hurt, but would one date turn into ten? Thirty? And then to lie to Morgan about the digging she was doing behind her back...

She took a deep breath. She was getting too far ahead of herself, like always. She was somewhat known for thinking too far ahead. But she had to, she was the Chief Engineer - it was her job to search for any potential problems and stop them from happening in advance. 

She headed back to her cabin and sat on the edge of her bed, hands massaging her temples. She was stressed, that she knew - but it was more of the surprise that was affecting her. Why did Morgan want this now, after she called it all off before?

Picking up her Transcribe, she checked the time. 3pm. Her working overtime meant that she could take the rest of the day off if she wanted to, but she knew that wouldn’t be productive nor helpful to ease her nerves. 

The Yellow Tulip. People were sure to gossip if they saw the two together. Mika didn’t care much for gossip, it got too out of control way too often. Maybe she should have suggested somewhere more discreet.

Pocketing her Transcribe, she headed back down to Life Support.


	2. The Yellow Tulip

Generally, Mikhalia didn’t date. No-one on board Talos had caught her eye, either romantically or sexually, for quite some time after she was permitted to work. She had thought of herself as someone who preferred the company of work to a companion; engineering had always been her passion, and at one point she might have stretched to saying that she was in a full time relationship with machinery. 

Of course, all this was before she met Morgan.  
Mikhalia swung her wrench sub-consciously to the rhythm of her steps. She was heading to her cabin now, an hour before she went for her date with Morgan. Could she call it a date? She knew Morgan would, to get a kick out of it. But ‘friendly meeting’ made her less nervous than ‘date’.  
She stopped to nod to the personnel at the Security Station before heading in the direction of her cabin, praying she wouldn’t bump into Morgan on the way. She was in luck, and she entered her room with no interruptions.

She laid her wrench on her desk and sat gingerly on her chair. Her nerves were getting to her. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach, only she wasn’t sure if she was nervous or scared at what Morgan had planned. Since the Vice President had ended their previous relationship, she had convinced herself to hold the mindset of ‘find your father, nothing else matters’. She had stuck to that ever since, although she was no closer to her goal. But it was something comforting to hold onto in a space station full of geniuses.

She took a deep breath. She was getting too far ahead of herself, like always. She was somewhat known for thinking too far ahead. But she had to, she was the Chief Engineer - it was her job to search for any potential problems and stop them from happening in advance. 

The engineer sighed, and checked her emails. Nothing out of the ordinary. Sometimes Sarah Elazar would shoot her a quick email asking her how she was, which she thought was very friendly for someone who was the intimidating Head of Security. Maybe not so intimidating to those she respected.

Her attention turned to her closet. She knew she only had one dress - silver, dotted here and there with blue sequins. It reminded her of the vast lakes back home, the ones her father took her fishing on. Not that she ever had much of an interest in fishing, but she went with her father all the same, mainly to appease him so she could get back to work on that old rusted car she tinkered with.

She clambered out of her bulky TranStar uniform and gently put on the dress. Mika knew she had a nice figure, but she was never one to so much as glance in a mirror before turning away. It only matters what’s on the inside, she’d tell herself, but she believed that it was human nature to fall for what was on the outside and by then it would be far too late.

She glanced at her TranScribe. 30 minutes. She decided to sit on her bed and read one of her favourite books, ‘Beyond the Iron Curtain’. Not like there was much else to do except for wait; if she wasn’t meeting Morgan she would have probably been asleep by now. Sometimes she woke to the drunken merriness of loud employees, but that would die down after a few moments.

30 minutes bled into 15. 15 into 5.

Mikhalia put her book down. 

————————————————

The Chief Engineer wasn’t sure what to expect from this. Morgan was either really late or really early, rarely actually on time. But here she was.  
She was dressed in red, with the bottom half of the dress fading into a gold shimmer. She had exaggerated her eyeliner slightly more than usual, which was typical for special occasions. Was this meeting a special occasion? Mikhalia didn’t know.  
All she knew was that Morgan was breathtakingly, heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

“Morgan.” She stated, walking to the other with a crooked smile. 

Brown eyes met green.

“Mikhalia. So good of you to join me.” The smile she gave made Mika’s heart skip slightly.

“Well, it was your idea, after all. I should hope it is good for me to join you.”

Morgan’s smile grew. “Yeah, don’t worry. I was going to take the liberty of booking out the entire Yellow Tulip for just us tonight, but Alex got wind of my plans before I could execute them,” the other woman shrugged. “He said that it was a selfish and stupid thing to do. I told him that’s exactly what I think of most of his ideas.”

Mikhalia smiled wryly. The Yu sibling drama, it never ended. “I can imagine, Morgan.”

“So,” Morgan clapped her hands together. “Shall we?”

She gestured for Mikhalia to go ahead of her. If there was a door she imagined that Morgan would have held it open for her.

“No, after you. If you’ve set me up for some kind of trap, you’re going in before me.” She chuckled.

Morgan shrugged and led the way, choosing a table in the far back of the bar where no-one could really see them. Cozy, but nerve-wracking.

“What would you like to drink? I’ll grab it from Tizzy at the bar.”

Mikhalia raised an eyebrow. “Have you forgotten my usual, Morgan? I’m disappointed.”

The brown-haired woman laughed. “No, I remember. I just wondered if your preference had... changed.”

She said it in such a way that Mikhalia thought she was referencing something else. She knew exactly what that was.

“My preferences are my business,” she smirked slightly. “Now go, get me whatever you want to get me.”

Morgan bowed slightly. “As you wish, your Highness.” 

The director of research headed towards the bar, and Mika couldn’t help but shoot a glance at Morgan’s ass in that dress. Fuck. She could imagine everything.

She looked up and met Morgan’s eyes from across the room. Shit, shit, shit! Had she seen her looking? The smirk on her face told her probably. Mikhalia looked away, mentally slapping herself in the process.

So, this was happening. A date with Morgan Yu. Probably the last thing she expected to do with her Tuesday night but, she couldn’t really complain. Just as long as she got enough sleep for the work day tomorrow.

‘Find your father, nothing else matters.’ She thought to herself, repeating it like a mantra.  
Morgan brought over two glasses of sparkling wine. She clearly did remember what her usual was, but she didn’t dare meet the other’s gaze for fear of reminding the other about the butt gazing situation.

She felt Morgan’s foot touch her leg under the table, and her entire body went automatically into statue mode. The electricity from the touch went straight to her crotch, and honestly she was a little irritated with herself for letting Morgan affect her this badly.

Noticing the reaction, Morgan grinned. She ran her fingers over the top of her wine glass, and Mikhalia watched her, her fingertips slowly caressing the glass-

“So, you’re probably wondering where all this came from, aren’t you?”

Mikhalia’s eyes snapped back up to Morgan’s face.  
“Well it did surprise me, yes, especially after-“

“The break-up.” Morgan frowned, interrupting her. “I’m going to tell you why I decided to end it, since you’ve been waiting months for an answer.”

Mika let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

“You see... I volunteered myself to be the test subject of these new type of neuromods we’ve been testing. But the process involves constantly removing and reinstalling them, and we know what happens after you remove a neuromod.” She glanced back up at Mikhalia, who nodded in response.

Memory erasure. Back to the day you first put it in.

“So severing ties seemed prudent to me. Not sure what you would have thought of that if I told you at the time, but I couldn’t. It was confidential, and it still kind of is. I’m trusting you not to tell anyone.”

Brown met green again. The brown was softer than usual.

Morgan continued. “So I didn’t want it to end there, not really. I just thought it would have been easier for both of us.”

Mikhalia understood. Well, she understood Morgan’s reasoning behind the break up, but that didn’t justify her actions after.

“Morgan, you ignored me for months. You looked right through me every time you walked past. You acted like I didn’t exist, and you expect me to just forgive you for that?”

Was Morgan... flinching?

“I guess... I was trying to deny myself how much I needed you.”


End file.
